The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast is dedicated to supporting and empowering farmers by recognizing that their greatest assets are the knowledge, experience, mind and health. Hosted by husband-and-wife duo Jesse and Dr. Leah, this podcast combines their unique backgrounds to provide valuable insights. Together, they explore topics that help farmers thrive both personally and professionally. Tune in for a blend of practical advice, real conversations, while having a little fun along the way as they talk about all thing's agriculture and family.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
The Work Will Always Be There, But Your Kids Will Not
Farm life means constantly juggling seasonal pressures with family needs while battling self-imposed time constraints. Jesse and Dr. Leah explore the mental and physical toll of the farming mindset that everything must be done immediately and perfectly.
• Spring brings overwhelming task lists: side dressing corn, spraying, preparation for hay season, and equipment maintenance
• The self-imposed pressure creates physical symptoms like back pain and sleep disruption
• Farmers struggle with delegation because they want everything done their specific way
• Effective communication requires explaining not just what to do but why it matters
• Farm kids experience both the rewards and stresses of agriculture intensely
• The pressure to continue multi-generational farm legacies creates significant mental burdens
• Farmers consistently undervalue their own time and expertise compared to other professionals
• Children are statistically likely to leave farming if they only see stress and constant work
• Taking time for family and personal wellness must become a priority
• "The work will always be there, but your kids may not"
If you found value in our podcast today, please like and subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. It will help us more than you know. Also, if you could share it on your social media and tag some friends who you think might get some value out of this or just need to hear that they aren't the only ones.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the farm's greatest asset is the farmer their knowledge, experience, mind and health. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Jesse.
Speaker 2:And I'm Dr Leah.
Speaker 1:It's actually Wednesday morning, it's a little dreary out, so here we are sitting down getting something on the podcast for you guys.
Speaker 2:Nothing like keeping it to the very last minute. We've been doing that a little bit too much lately.
Speaker 1:This is how we roll on the farm, though, babe, isn't it?
Speaker 2:though Isn't it Putting out fires and trying to build the parachute on the way down.
Speaker 1:All right, that's how the farm goes, though this week we were trying to do it all at once with side dressing, corn post spraying corn, foliar feeding corn. It's hay season that's got to start. We're going to start chopping triticale, hopefully pretty soon. It's ready to go, just waiting on the chopper to show up. Going to put that in a harvester. Trying to get that fixed and set up.
Speaker 2:It's just going from one thing to the next not to mention the county fair is coming up in a month and a half, so henry's tied up with his show cattle orthodontist appointments gotta pick up our beef at the locker. So many things it never ends.
Speaker 1:It's just kind of how things roll on the farm. I don't, I don't, I don't think we're, uh, the only ones that roll that way, and I guess it's putting it out there that we're all doing the same thing. You don't have to feel like you're the only ones running ragged. So I've been complaining lately that my back hurts.
Speaker 2:Your neck hurts. You're not sleeping.
Speaker 1:And I'm blaming it on. We got a new mattress and decided to go with a more firm mattress, so I don't think the mattress is helping, but I've been blaming it on the mattress all the stress of trying to get it all done in this little timeframe that I think it needs to get done in.
Speaker 2:So why? Why do we put that pressure on ourselves? I and I can point the finger at you and I I have, you know, three of them pointing back at me because I do the same thing with other stuff. So why do you think that we, we do that? Where's that coming from? I, I, it seems. Maybe it is very unique to farming families, but we don't know that because that's the only life that we've lived, because we've both grew up in farming families.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but when you were doctoring did you always have to do one more thing before you left the office?
Speaker 2:No, I had about 10 things I had to do before I left the office and the majority of the time it was, you know, the kids were little and I tried to be home between five, 30 and nine, so I would actually get a little bit of time with them, which is crazy to think. So I would go back and, while people were in labor, if I was up, I just go and work on more stuff then. So I think it is less. It is more of the pressure, pressure that we put on ourselves, because it is all about the mindset and how you look at it.
Speaker 1:It is, I guess, to me the path I was going down when I asked you when you were doctoring is there always one more thing you got to do? Yes, there always is.
Speaker 2:Always.
Speaker 1:And it doesn't matter if it's on the farm or if you're a physician working in the hospital. In the hospital you had a support staff. You had nurses in your office, you had nurses on labor and delivery. You know the nurses in the OR. All that to do some of the other support stuff. Farming's pretty unique in that we wear every single hat.
Speaker 2:But I think it's because we choose to.
Speaker 1:You're right.
Speaker 2:We do so and that is the generational. You know I got to cut back, cut penny pinch and do it all on my own and if I don't do it, um, it's not going to get done, right, right. And and I've also seen, you know, as we've had employees, that mindset is it's still there and I'm not pointing at just you. I do it here with the kids and you know I've hired housekeepers and I've done it with them, like they don't do it how I want them to do it. But have I ever specifically sat down and told them this is exactly how I want it done?
Speaker 1:Which is why we need to create procedures for everything.
Speaker 2:Which is why we definitely need like the farm needs an operating system.
Speaker 1:It is unique in farming that we do just want to do it all ourselves. Is that because that's the way our parents tell us we got to do it? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think some of it stems from the time and money scarcity that is very apparent in farming, because everything is highly seasonal and you do have short windows of time where you can get stuff done. And then we try and create all of this other busy work because we pride ourselves so much in being a hard worker, so we have to be busy and working all of the time that we inundate ourselves with work. Not that it doesn't need to be done and not that it isn't important, but there is this I'm the only one that can get it done the right way.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So if we don't allow other people or employees to do it, how I've seen it with you and I is we're doing better about delegating to people, but we're still unhappy with the results. It's not done the way that I want it done. You know it's not parked where I want it parked it's not. You know the shed isn't way that I want it done. You know it's not parked where I want it parked it's not. You know the shed isn't organized how I want it.
Speaker 1:And that comes back on me and it's, you know, extreme ownership.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's a lack of communication, effective communication.
Speaker 1:Right. So I got to take ownership of it because I haven't told them this is how I want it done ABCD in this order or the corn on corn, the side dress rate I want 100, want 100 pounds on corn on corn and 75 on not corn on corn. And I need to explain the whole thing, not just say, well, go to that field and do 100 pounds and then go to that field and do 75. Because that actually bit me in the ass last year when I was just trying to delegate, go to that field and do 75 pounds and go to that field and do 100 pounds. I felt like I told him every specific field and every specific rate, but I didn't explain why.
Speaker 2:So if I could explain, this is what you do and this is why I want you to do it should make more sense why I want you to do it should make more sense, and I learned that too, how the importance of that when I was in medicine because I would have my nurse or my MA and the more I explained my thought processes to them. You know, like this patient's coming in with this problem, we need to work them up for a, b and C, and this is why I this is why I look at those things and the more, the longer they worked with me and the more I explained what I was doing and why I was doing it.
Speaker 1:They were becoming proactive.
Speaker 2:They were, and so the patient would come in. They already had all the lab work done.
Speaker 2:And and I, I could just be like, oh, you know, just tweak it a little bit, because you know patient care is very individualized.
Speaker 2:It's not actually that much different than field prescriptions. You know, like, what you're doing in each field, so you can look at it from the same perspective, like, okay, this is my standard, this is why we're going to tweak it for this field, but give them those nuances that you know and it will only upgrade your entire farming operation instead of the do this there, do that there, because then you just become, you know, a general and they're just, they're your little underlings who and that's not as enjoyable of a relationship, right, and I, I think that where the breakdown really comes is when you are under that time pressure, like there's so much time pressure you, you stay in your highest self and you do very well. When it isn't like we have 10 days of work to get done in four days before it rains and then, oh, we had a little spot shower and now we have more fires. The key will be what is going to then help us in our operation when we have that time pressure and really like who's putting the time pressure on?
Speaker 1:me right. I'm putting it on myself.
Speaker 2:The one thing we have no control over, you and I, is the weather, and it is the biggest limitation to us. We allow something to have so much control in our life that we have no control over. So how do we take back that control? By realizing, you know what. God's got it, we don't we all we can do is our very best because we love you, babe. But and I'm just as guilty you are a different person when you are putting these time constraints on everybody.
Speaker 2:I know On yourself and it just is home and I came home yesterday and was in a hurry.
Speaker 1:Nobody knows my time schedule and I want you to know it. Read my mind.
Speaker 2:Well and you didn't even call ahead and let them know like I need A, b and C done and it did not go well when you got home need A, b and C done, and it did not go well.
Speaker 1:When you got home, I called ahead, but I did not say exactly what was going on again and why.
Speaker 2:So it's almost like you go to I want everybody to do this on my time right now, and you should know, and it's the you should know part of that Like there is a huge. You should just know. But we are here trying to get our work done here and living our lives here, and then it's like the tornado comes through and, sweetheart, I am old, I'm, I'm pointing a finger at you and I have three pointed back at me. I can't even tell you how many times I have done this to the kids. Probably 10 times for every one time you have done it. It's just an example that we're using because I am just as bad, if not worse, that I am like why isn't this done? And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because I want it done and I want it done my way. And why aren't you doing it on my time? Our poor children?
Speaker 1:They're in a unique situation because they're homeschooled, so they're also a very important. They have a vital role in the farm, so they get a lot of our frustrations.
Speaker 2:They are definitely living real farm life. You know, for many kids that grow up on the farm, they leave, you know, they get ready, they go to school, they're gone all day and they are not as involved in the farming operation, daily operations, the daily operations. So they don't feel and see all that pressure. And and we can talk too about how, when the next generation comes about, they don't. They don't know everything about farming, really, like if if they are involved in the financial talks, if they are involved in the banking talks, if they're not involved in all of the stress that's happening during the day, they're only getting little tidbits. And why I feel like we have so many kids leaving the farm is because, number one, they only feel what's happening. They don't understand and know, because they aren't privy to the information.
Speaker 2:And it really detracts them from wanting to even have it be part of their life. So I think that's one of the reasons, and how can we, as an agricultural community, change that? Well, the first thing that anybody can do is to start really looking at why we are doing it ourselves, like, why are we choosing to continue those, those generational thought processes, and how can we make it better? That is what we are working on.
Speaker 1:We're trying to do right.
Speaker 2:We're trying to change that. Then the number one thing is like we realize what we're doing and we try and stop ourselves from doing it, Um, because it's not building our family. It's just kind of breaking us down a little bit.
Speaker 2:A lot bit and we're sharing it with all of you because we really struggle with this during our busy times. We think it's unique to agriculture and it is Because agriculture is every component of our life. Like when I sit and think about, what else would we talk about? I mean, I don't even watch the news anymore, so what else would we talk about? Um, but our business and and our kids. I think that is similar for families nowadays. It can be used for any family because their kids are involved in so many things and they are working. They are also running their kids around to ball games or dance.
Speaker 2:Gymnastics, whatever it is Every little thing that kids are involved in, and it's really affecting families. So how do we take back that? How do we have extreme ownership? How do we take back that ownership of this is what we are choosing? How do we do the best with what we're choosing and are we making the choices that are best for all of us, or are we just making the quote-unquote easy choices?
Speaker 1:or are we doing the societal norm?
Speaker 2:don't do it, because the neighbor's doing it but it's such human nature to want to fit in and and belong well, and when your kids wants to do the travel ball, we, you know, you do that.
Speaker 1:We, henry shows cattle, we do that, we've done travel volleyball, I mean, it's one of those things you just you're like okay, we're gonna do this for our kids or make it work and you make it work because family time is is too important well.
Speaker 2:And then you have the other side of it, right when Lizzie was playing volleyball and now she's like I don't think. I want to do that and all I can think is I want you to get out of this house, because our kids are here all of the time and I don't want them to see that their whole life has to be work because it has. Look at what it has been for us and what we have created. How do we keep our us from being just work all of the time? And I think that you and I are doing well and doing better with it. You know we have these seasons of strain. I think we're so much better than we used to, like I don't feel burnout to that point like I used to be.
Speaker 1:We're getting better. It's nothing like when you were doctoring.
Speaker 2:Oh God.
Speaker 1:That's a whole other level of burnout for both of us. You learn and grow through all of it and we're getting better.
Speaker 2:We could do a whole podcast episode on how, like, how big of a shit show that was.
Speaker 1:We were crazy busy. That's the way we roll.
Speaker 2:But there's something better out there. I feel it. I know you feel it too.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's what we're working on Personal growth and being better and realizing that family time is more important, our health is more important. Our health is more important, our mindset is more important. So when you get all those things, get everything aligned.
Speaker 2:And it's really about creating the life you truly want, not dealing with what you think you have. You have Like I don't want our springs to be like it has been the last couple of days.
Speaker 1:It actually hasn't been bad. It's just the the actual work hasn't been bad, it's just I've been putting a time constraint on it because I feel like, well, the corn's at V4. It's got to go and it's time to get the side dressing done and we got to get the chopping. We got to get everything ready so the chopper can show up and I want to go to the lake this weekend. We've got to get it all done now and that's on me for creating that time constraint.
Speaker 2:How do we justify somebody else helping us so we can enjoy more of our time? And that is why farmers feel like we have to do it all, because we feel like there has to be a justification for that financial, financial spend is is my family time worth that money? And like, Ooh, that kind of hurt a little bit saying that because we all want to say yes, but is that how we are acting?
Speaker 1:We actually do it right.
Speaker 2:Right. So we want to say yes, my family is more important to me than the farm and the financials of the farm, but there is, I mean, at least for both of us, at minimum. I'm sure there's probably even more five generations ahead of us that are counting on us to continue the legacy, and that pressure is bigger than anyone could even discuss Like I feel. I can feel that in my chest just talking about it.
Speaker 1:We're very proud to say we're fifth, sixth, whatever generation farmers. But it's also a burden that we carry Make sure it continues. So it's finding the balance of how to deal with it and make everything work.
Speaker 2:Farmers devalue their time Right when you think of if you really got paid the way a CEO should get paid.
Speaker 1:Right, how many farmers actually take a paycheck?
Speaker 2:So we can also talk about the indentured servitude of children in farming operations.
Speaker 1:How many farmers pay their children for their work?
Speaker 2:What is your time truly worth? I know what I pay professionals. We send our payroll to the accountant and I get that bill and I was like I think that probably took them like maybe five minutes. We have two employees.
Speaker 1:She didn't have to do it.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, okay, that is. But if you look at it like it's probably five to 10 minutes of their time twice a month, literally, and we're paying that much money, um, but I pay it because I don't have to do it. Then so when I think, when I step back and I and I think, wait a minute, what, what is my time worth? What? What is my value on the farm? When you think of how much, how valuable I would say, your time as the CEO and my time as the CFO truly are, if we had to, like, bring somebody in to take your spot and and I think the reality is that we as farmers know we could never cash flow that, so we don't even think about it. We don't even think about how we can change things within our operation to make your time valuable.
Speaker 1:So the moral story is don't always have to do one more thing, you don't have to do it all, and family time is it is worth it.
Speaker 2:Your time is worth it as a farmer and the work will always be there, because the kids are not going to be there forever.
Speaker 1:Right. The work will always be there. The kids kids may leave at any point and, statistically speaking, your kids are all going to leave.
Speaker 2:So, and statistically speaking, your kids are all going to leave. I mean, really like kids farm, kids are leaving the farm faster than they can faster than we can put them out. Enjoy the time.
Speaker 1:So are we going to lake? Yeah Right, we will see so.
Speaker 2:I know it all depends on when the choppers are coming, cause we don't have complete control over all of that.
Speaker 1:So farm life, things change in a hurry. You know I'll come home friday morning. Be like, let's go.
Speaker 2:That'll never change you know that used to bother me so much. Just like I want to leave in two hours and then you and when the kids were little I would be like I don't have any of the laundry done like I like. I guess let's throw in a couple like I like. That's one load of laundry can we have enough clothes to leave for a few days? And one load of laundry for me and our children. And it was another time thing time constraint, constraint. Is there a pattern here, babe?
Speaker 1:There is.
Speaker 2:I'm just as guilty of it, hon. I really am In different ways with different things. Like when I leave, I don't want to walk into a mess when I come home, so I want the house clean before I go, and that's something that I put on myself, like I want things picked up because I don't want to walk into work. Now, is it really ever 100% when we leave? Rarely, but that's the one more thing Always.
Speaker 1:One more thing. So again, time with family time with your spouse, everything that is worth it. Your own time is worth it.
Speaker 2:Well, your time is valuable.
Speaker 1:Right, everybody's clock is ticking. Sometimes we don't know when it's going to quit ticking. So I've said that for the last couple of years. Now it's time to enjoy life, it's time to enjoy your kids, because the work will always be there. So thanks for listening.
Speaker 2:If you found value in our podcast today, please like and subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. It will help us more than you know um also if you could share it on your social media and tag some friends who you think might get some value out of this or just need to hear that they don't. They aren't the only ones.
Speaker 1:They're not alone. So it's a good day. Have a great day.
Speaker 2:Bye.
